An extremely rare McLaren F1 was sold earlier this month at an RM Sotheby’s auction for the incredible price of $13,750,000 dollars. That’s a pretty insane number given the fact that this car is around 17 years old, but if you know a thing or two about the F1, then that price makes some sense, but this isn’t just any regular F1.
Launched in 1992, the McLaren F1 quickly became one of the best cars ever created. In fact, many consider it to be a modern-day Ferrari 250 GTO. Only 106 or so were ever produced, and they are still some of the most sought after cars in existence. In 1998 it became the worlds fastest production car, achieving a top speed of 240.1 mph. In fact not only is it still the third fastest production car of all-time, it’s the fastest car with a naturally aspirated engine. It was built by McLaren to be the best road car in existence, and many still consider that statement to be true give its 680 bhp V12 engine, attractive looks, it’s four-wheel independent suspension, and the fact that the drivers seat is placed in the middle of the vehicle, much like a Formula One car. Despite being created as a road car, the F1 actually claimed the overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. Now McLaren released a few different versions of the F1. There were some designed for the road and then some designed for racing, this particular McLaren is a little bit of both.
This McLaren is the “LM-Specification” edition that was upgraded by McLaren Special Operations. Essentially this car has the higher-performing engine that was used in the Le Mans races while retaining all of the civilized features of the normal, street-legal F1 in addition to a variety of other upgrades. In other words, one could argue that this is the greatest McLaren F1 ever produced. McLaren only ended up building just two examples of this car which is why it sold for that incredible price. And again, this is a vehicle from 1998 that still outperforms many modern supercars, it’s just that good.
Photos from rmsothebys.com
